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Villagers plant 280,000 saplings for world record

Manoj Anand

Chaupakhi, a nondescript village in Western Assam’s Bongaigaon district, has ensured its entry in to the Guinness Book of World Records by planting more than 280,000 saplings in 24 hours.

Three hundred residents of Chaupakhi had embarked on a massive tree plantation drive on July 11 in a bid to outdo the record made by Nagapattanam village in Tamil Nadu in 2006.

Extra assistant commissioner of North Salmara, Palash R Gharphulia told this newspaper that the residents of Chaupakhi had planted more than 2.80 lakhs saplings by 2 pm on July 12. The plantation had started on an area of 31.5 lakh hectares of land on Friday at 3 pm in presence of five independent observers appointed by authorities in the Guinness Book of Records.

Gharphulia said that plantation of saplings, comprising fruit and timber tree species has just concluded. "Besides the physical presence of observers, we have prepared videographic record of every moment of the event which will be presented to the Guinness Book of World Records," he said adding that they are now awaiting formal approval of the authorities in the Guinness Book of Records. The present record of planting highest 2,54,469 saplings on a plot of about 20 hacter land stands in the name of Nagapattanam village of Tamil Nadu in 2006.

The man behind motivating the Chaupakhi villagers for plantation drive was M.S. Manivannam, sub-divisional officer (civil) of North Salmara, who incidentally is from Tamil Nadu.

He told reporters: "Basically our purpose was also aimed at to involve the villagers in both eco-conservation and income generation activities. As we found a vast empty plot of land, we thought why not try out for tree plantation which has both eco-conservation and economic values. Moreover, the villagers can also get engaged under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act."

WWF-India education officer for Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, Surajit Baruah, one of the independent observers of the plantation drive, said that the effort has set an example for the entire country. "We should appreciate the effort for the simple reason that it is going to set an example of massive afforestation drive both in the Northeastern region and the country as a whole. The landscape is beautiful, dotted with small wetlands, for the plantation drive," said Mr Baruah.

Jihosuo Biswas of Primate Research Centre, who is also observer in the drive, said the tree species selected for the plantation is a judicious mix of both fruit and timber varieties and would come as an immense help to the villagers who made it possible.